If you're a string player you've definitely heard of The Strad Magazine!

Did you know it started in June 1890 and has a readership of over 150,000 top-level players, makers and enthusiasts of stringed instruments? 

All through my music-college years I was a subscriber. Each month I got all the latest news about players and string-related news and innovations.

And never for a moment did I think I would have my own article published in there!

So I am super-excited that in the August 2023 edition my article EFT for Performance Anxiety features as the Opinion Piece.👏

Entitled, 'Can nerves be conquered?' I start with an imagined, though all too familiar scenario:

Picture a small, scared 8-year-old, waiting their turn for their grade 2 piano exam. The child is shaking with fear, white-faced, terrified of messing up.

Their teacher tries to help by offering words of encouragement, stating, gently but firmly, that nerves are necessary and show that you care.

I then go on to question this long-held, almost cherished, belief. 

What if it is merely a coping mechanism for dealing with the fact that, up to now, we’ve lacked effective ways of managing the jitters, butterflies in the stomach, and clumsy fingers that often accompany performances?

Because the fact is, there are now so many new techniques out there which can help us to beat performance anxiety.

So what is EFT Tapping?

Here's how I talked about it in that article:

Since the 1990s, there has been a rise in modalities that combine Western talk-therapy with Eastern energy techniques, with EFT being one such technique. It involves stimulating acupressure points by tapping on them while discussing the corresponding emotions and challenges being faced. This reduces the stress hormone cortisol, rewires the brain, and calms the fight or flight response, allowing the mind-body-nervous system to relax.

I wish I'd had access to this mind-body-energy tool when I was a young music-college graduate, struggling with nerves and deeply-held limiting beliefs.

For a long time those stopped me from going for the career that I had dreamed of for years.

These techniques are now becoming accepted by the mainstream. And having an article about EFT Tapping for Performance Anxiety published in The Strad proves that beyond doubt.

This is especially meaningful for me because, for years I thought that EFT and all things energy, and, let's face it, woo-woo, would never become accepted in the mainstream, rather conservative, world of classical music.

But luckily I was wrong!

Hundreds of musicians, artists and creatives have proved that to me and now getting published here is icing on the cake. 😍

If you, or anyone you know, gets The Strad, check it out!

You can sign up for a 7-day subscription to the Strad and read the full article for free right HERE!

Or LISTEN to me, the author, reading Can Nerves Be Conquered? right HERE

Here's to sharing EFT Tapping with our world, one article at a time!